Adjaye Associates

Adjaye Associates was established in June 2000 by founder and principal architect, David Adjaye OBE. Receiving ever-increasing worldwide attention, projects range in scale from private houses, exhibitions and temporary pavilions to major arts centres, civic buildings and masterplans in Europe, North America, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Renowned for an eclectic material and colour palette and a capacity to unfold cinematically, the buildings differ in form and style, yet are unified by their ability to challenge typologies and to generate a dynamic cultural discourse.

Vista of the Museum from Constitution Avenue, looking across the north lawn to the Washington Monument. Photo credit: Alan Karchmer/NMAAHC

Completed works include: the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C. (2016); the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO in Moscow (2010); The Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo (2005); The Bernie Grant Arts Centre in London (2007); Rivington Place in London (2007); and the Idea Stores on Chrisp Street (2004) and Whitechapel (2005) – two pioneering new libraries in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The former was nominated for the Stirling Prize in 2006, received a RIBA Building Award in 2005 and has been exhibited at the VIII Venice Biennale of Architecture (2002 and 2005) and the Sao Paulo Biennial (2003).

To learn more about Adjaye Associates please visit their website at www.adjaye.com

Sir David Adjaye

Sir David Adjaye OBE is recognized as a leading architect of his generation. Adjaye was born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents and his influences range from contemporary art, music and science to African art forms and the civic life of cities. In 1994 he set up his first office, where his ingenious use of materials and his sculptural ability established him as an architect with an artist’s sensibility and vision.

He reformed his studio as Adjaye Associates in 2000 and immediately won several prestigious commissions. In Oslo he designed the Nobel Peace Centre in the shell of a disused railway station (completed in 2005). In London his design for the Whitechapel Idea Store pioneered a new approach to the provision of information services (2005). Later projects in London included the Stephen Lawrence Centre, with teaching and community spaces (2007), Rivington Place, an exhibition venue and resource centre (2007), and the Bernie Grant Centre for the performing arts (2007). He is currently working on a pair of major redevelopment projects in the city - One Berkeley (ongoing), a £600 million scheme in the prestigious Piccadilly area; and 5 Strand (ongoing), a mixed-use residential scheme adjacent to the iconic Trafalgar Square.

Adjaye Associates now has offices in London, New York and Accra, with projects throughout the world. In the United States, Adjaye is recognized as the lead designer for the $540 million Smithsonian Institute National Museum of African American History and Culture, which opened in fall 2016 on the National Mall in Washington DC. He has also designed the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver (2007), two public libraries in Washington DC (2012), and a mixed-use social housing, museum and child education scheme in New York’s Sugar Hill (2015). Adjaye’s US office is currently working on the new home for The Studio Museum in Harlem (ongoing), the Ruby City building for the Linda Pace Foundation, and a luxury residential tower in lower Manhattan (ongoing)

Jeffrey Berman Architect

Jeffrey Berman Architect specializes in process design for healthcare: the planning, programming and design of healthcare and research facilities requiring technologically advanced systems and equipment, including state-of–the-art medical diagnostic imaging and treatment centers and operating suites. Since its founding in 1988, Jeffrey Berman Architect has been on the leading edge of healthcare architecture. The firm has designed facilities for the major healthcare institutions throughout the New York area, including Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, Columbia University Medical Center, and NYU Langone Medical Center.

To learn more about Jeffrey Berman Architect please visit their website at JBarch.com

Bryan R. Adams

Bryan R. Adams is co-founder and Chief Media Strategist at FAB Communications. He brings 26 years of experience in media relations and publicity. He began his career at Tommy Boy Music, assisting in and/or developing campaigns for top recording artists. He was responsible for placing Grammy Award-winning artist, Coolio on his first national magazine cover in 1994. Two years later, Bryan co-founded FAB Communications, and has presided over the publicity department. He has been implementing media strategies for companies and individuals in the genres of film, comedy, publishing, entrepreneurial, financial, and non-profit. Since 2007, he has served as an Instructor for the Support Center for Non-Profit Management. Bryan lectures on new media strategies at NYC area colleges & universities and small business workshops. He has also co-founded several networking organizations such as SuperNodes (an international wine networking group) and Assist (a retired pro athlete and local business networking/mentoring group). He currently serves on the Board of Directors, LIU Post Alumni Association.

God's Love We Deliver

God’s Love We Deliver is the New York City metropolitan area’s leading provider of nutritious, individually-tailored meals to people who are too sick to shop or cook for themselves.

Founded in 1985 when one woman began delivering food on her bicycle to a man dying from AIDS, God’s Love now cooks 5,500 meals each weekday, delivering them to clients living with life-altering illnesses in all five boroughs of New York City, Westchester and Nassau Counties, and Newark and Hudson County, New Jersey. All of our services are provided free of charge to our clients, their children and to the senior caregivers of our senior clients, without regard to income, and we have never maintained a waiting list. Because we believe the combination of hunger and serious illness is a crisis, we deliver food within 24 – 48 hours of first being contacted.

God’s Love We Deliver is a non-sectarian organization, providing meals with the strong belief of “food as medicine.” To that end, we employ a team of registered dietitians who individually tailor meals to each client’s specific medical requirements. God’s Love provides all services by employing a small but dedicated professional staff and with the critical assistance of 8,000 volunteers annually.

To learn more about God’s Love We Deliver please visit their website at www.glwd.org

Alex Lin

Alex Linbegan his career at Deloitte Consulting with a focus on strategy and analytics to transform, optimize, and improve business processes with clients spanning across multiple industries. Alex later transitioned to Teads, an adtech startup that aimed to change how brands connected with consumers and people around the world. Prior to being acquired by Altice in 2017, Alex led Teads’ strategic efforts in global business analytics. Post-acquisition, Alex collaborated with leadership on new business opportunities by exploring strategic M&A or partnership options, and helped rebrand the startup to a global media company through global business development and product strategy of the company’s flagship enterprise solution. Alex recently joined KBB Partners, a startup venture that focuses on optimizing spend and providing advisory services for firms in investment banking, traditional and alternative asset management, law, and professional services.

Alex graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics

Chap Michie

Chap Michie began his career in the J.P. Morgan’s Global Wealth Management division, leading a team in the private bank to bring indispensable intelligence and personalized insights to individuals and families across the globe. After seeking to apply this skillset to an institutional client base, Chap has since transitioned into an investment specialist role at J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Chap now advises some of the world’s most prominent institutions and central banks across a full spectrum of asset classes, with a specific focus on global fixed income. Prior to embarking on career in financial services, Chap had extensive experience in the field of data science and was trained at NASA on the principles of human computer interaction. He is an investment professional motivated by emerging technologies and their applications to modern business.

Chap graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in Applied Mathematics and Economics.

Ricky Siewers

Ricky Siewers began his career at Bloomberg LP as a specialist for the Bloomberg Terminal, the preeminent financial software tool that connects decision makers to a network of information, people, and ideas. In his time at Bloomberg, he has specialized in providing Terminal solutions for financial professionals across multiple asset classes and portfolio tools. Ricky currently provides consultative solutions for key account asset managers to optimize their investment process and develops strategies to further drive business on an enterprise level. Ricky also has prior experience in product marketing through the Harvard Innovation Lab's Venture Incubation Program.

Ricky graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in Business & Economics.

Greg Hempt

Greg Hempt began his career as a quantitative analyst intern at Montgomery Investment Technology Inc., an industry leader specializing in the valuation of options and derivative securities, while attending graduate school. At Montgomery Greg developed an educational quantitative model for clients that simulated a simple hedging strategy and created an interactive learning tool for college students and young investors that demonstrated solutions for managing unhedged equity exposure. Greg is currently an analyst at J.P. Morgan in the Private Bank where he works to provide bespoke solutions to solve the unique financial challenges facing wealthy individuals, families, public company executives, endowments, foundations and privately-held businesses.

Greg graduated from the Virginia Military Institute with a degree in Civil Engineering and minor in Applied Mathematics and received his M.B.A. and M.S. in Finance from Drexel University.